


Kapish

by ciaconnaa



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Post S2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 23:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12828828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciaconnaa/pseuds/ciaconnaa
Summary: Hopper learns quickly that the kid loves animals. And it's only a matter of time before his house starts to feel like a damn zoo





	Kapish

 Jane’s first week after she closes the gate is uneventful.

She nearly sleeps the entire week away. He only notices her zombie form withdrawal from the bedroom to eat, sleep, and use the restroom, and then she’s back to snoozing before he face hits the pillow. As soon as she’s rested enough to hold a conversation, Hopper gives her a present.

“Consider it one of the many birthday presents you should have gotten.”

Her face is soft and joyous as she opens the unwrapped jewelry box to find a small gold pendant with her name _Jane_ in pretty cursive hanging next to a small opal stone.

“I spoke to Becky…” Hopper begins, clearing his throat as he gently takes the necklace from her hands to clasp behind her neck. “And things are a little fuzzy and the medical records are gone but we _think_ your birthday is around October 26th. So that’s what we’re going to go with.”

“The rock is pretty,” she tells him, staring down at the fiery stone.

“It’s an opal. It’s an October thing. That’s what the lady at the store said,” Hopper shrugs. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I do. Thank you.”

Hopper gives another awkward cough before he crouches in front of her, one hand on his shoulder. “Jane,” he says her name, awkward and new on his tongue. “We have to stay pretty hidden for a bit. Not sure how long, but….it’s going to be a bit like before. I’ll let Mike and your friends come over _occasionally._ But for the most part, it’s gonna be just us.” He sighs. “I’m sorry, kid. It’s the way it has to be. If we stick to it, you might be able to go to school with Mike and the others next year.”

Her face lights up and he cracks a smile.

“But you have to _stick to it._ There’s no shortcuts. Kapish?”

Immediately her brow furrows and she cocks her head to the side. “Ka...pish?”

“Deal?” he amends, sticking his hand out.

She takes it without hesitation. “Deal."

 

* * *

 

Four days later, after he gets a call about someone’s lost dog darting out into traffic at the town square, Hopper gets an idea and mentally berates himself for not thinking of it sooner.

Sure, they have to hide. But that doesn’t mean it has to be _just them._

He wakes Jane up and tells her to get ready and jump in the car because he has a surprise for her. She doesn’t do well to hide her excitement--and then disappointment when they drive past Mike’s house--silently shaking with anticipation in the passenger’s seat all the way to the other edge of town.

He waits for her to read the sign on the building: _Hawkins County Animal Shelter,_ her expression hard to discern as Hopper opens the door for her. “C’mon, kid. Time to get you a pet.”

When he asks Jane if she’d rather have a cat or a dog, he’s met with a blank stare. Hopper is personally leaning towards dog, but in the end Jane steers herself to the room with the cats and he decides it’s probably for the best: they’re a bit easier to take care of.

The lady showing them around tells her about the kittens they just got as well as the younger adult cats that are all energetic, friendly, and in good health. Seeing as Jane’s a kid and the shelter knows how kids work, the woman glosses over the elderly black cat in the top left cage with nothing but a sweet mention of his name.

Jane is absolutely entranced, looking at the cat like he’s an angel.

And Hopper is positive it is the ugliest cat he’s ever seen.

His name is Dracula. He’s 12 years old with a snaggletooth and only one working eye. There’s nothing medically wrong with him but he’s slow and apparently meows like a banshee when he gets lost or confused which is apparently _a lot._

Hopper asks if wants to look at the dogs.

Jane says yes, and follows the lady out to the other hall, Dracula still in her arms.

So much for that plan.

 

* * *

 

“Now, this guy is your responsibility,” Hopper explains for the umpteeth time as they drive back to the cabin. Dracula is sitting peacefully in her lap as the wind blows Jane’s curly hair into her eyes. “You have to make sure he’s fed, clean up after him, all that. I’m not going to do it. Kapish?”

“Kapish,” she answers cheerfully, fond of the word now. “Thank you, Hopper.”

Any annoyance he had to her picking the oldest fart of a cat in the shelter is gone with one shine of her smile. It’s all worth it to make her so happy. “Before we stop home, we’ll get him a collar and a nametag.”

Jane pulls at the chain at her neck, tugging the pendant tucked underneath her sweater. “Nametag?”

“Sorta,” he laughs, covering his wide grin with the palm of his hand. “Sorta, kid.”

 

* * *

 

Jane picks out a purple collar and a golden tag that has Dracula written on it, with his phone number on the back just in case. They get all the stuff the cat needs: food, toys, _whatever._ It’s all cozy and at home and Hopper waits for the banshee crying to begin.

It never starts.

The cat and Jane are inseparable. He follows her around the house at her heel and lounges not just next to her on the couch but _on her,_ crawling up on her chest and resting his head in the crook of her neck. There’s no crying, not really, but Hopper can hear it purring from across the room.

“It likes you,” he explains when it first purrs so loudly, Jane asks if it’s broken. “You took him in and saved him and he’s happy about it. Just make sure he doesn’t claw the furniture, yeah?”

Jane smiles, burying her face in Dracula’s fur.

 

* * *

 

A month later, Jane calls him in the middle of the day while he’s at the station.

They’d been doing real good on the whole _don’t leave the cabin_ rules, so Hopper has a hard time believing there isn’t a good reason that Jane needs to call him. He thinks of everything that could possibly go wrong: she’s hurt, she’s sick, something is _wrong_ so his heart definitely skips a few beats in terror when he asks what’s wrong and she answers with:

_“I’m at the hospital.”_

“What’s wrong?” he repeats, already grabbing his keys. “Are you hurt? Did you fall or something? Did you call an ambulance or did you call Joyce? Is Joyce with you?”

_“Not me,”_ she answers. “ _The dog.”_

“The…..dog. What?”

_“The dog is hurt.”_

He sighs, frustration and annoyance creeping back. “What dog, kid.”

_“I heard a dog. He was hurt. Took him to the hospital but they said no. Help. He’s bleeding.”_

“You can’t take dogs to the hospital. Dogs go to the vet.”

_“Where’s the vet?”_

He pinches the bridge of his nose. This whole conversation is a dead end and he knows it. “Okay. I’ll come get you and we’ll drop the dog off at the vet just….please. Out of sight. You know better.”

_“Please hurry.”_

After he picks her and the dog up, he can’t really be angry--the dogs is very hurt. She’s some golden-colored mutt with one of her legs all mangled and if Hopper had to guess she definitely was hit by a car. But what he really doesn’t understand is how Jane heard the dog from the cabin.

Then he remembers she has psychic powers and he’s been to another dimension so honestly, it’s probably not that weird.

“She was looking for help,” Jane decides, stroking the whimpering dog’s ears. “I walked out to meet her, she was in the leaves in the middle of the forest, crying. What happened?”

Hopper spares the dog a glance and he pushes a little harder on the gas pedal. “She probably got hit by a car.” at Jane’s appalled look he adds, “They probably didn’t mean to.”

“But they didn’t help it.”

He has no argument for that.

As they arrive at the vet and give a slightly edited story of what happened (aka we found a stray at the edge of the road)The vet’s assistants takes the dog immediately, praising Jane for her help and telling her the dog is lucky to have her, but not before one of them pulls Hopper aside to give some more grim and realistic news.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to save the leg, let alone any what’s to come of any other internal damage. I know you said it’s a stray, and there’s only so much the shelter can provide in medical costs...so humanely, I might be looking at another outcome.”

Hopper looks over and sees Jane wringing her hands nervously in the lobby, watching as the vets disappears with the dog. She looks like she’s about to burst into tears and with that look in her eyes Hopper knows she’s not going to be the only one that cries if that dog dies.

“Do what you can,” he says softly. “Whatever it takes. I’ll...pay for everything. The dog will come home with us. I promise.”

A week later, a three-legged dog that Jane proudly names Eggo gets a new collar and a new home.

 

* * *

 

Cats and dogs are something that Hopper can live with, but he draws the line at wild animals.

Too bad Jane _doesn’t._

She’s worse than the cat itself. Even though Hopper tells her not to venture too far outside the property, she does it anyway, and always comes back with some creature that needs food, water, or mending. First, it’s a bird with a broken wing. (“Can I keep it?” “No,”) Second, it’s a chipmunk she thinks looks a little cold. (“It’s not cold, put it back outside, Jane”), and third is a little rabbit she just thinks is cute. (“I named it Hopper!” “That’s great! You still can’t keep it.”) Jane clearly likes animals of all kinds. He doesn’t want them in his house and he’s constantly explaining to her that some animals homes are _the outdoors_ but it’s not the end of the world. Little birds, chipmunks and rabbits don’t really do much.

But two weeks later, when she tries to drag in a baby coyote for a snack, Hopper tells her that any other animal that isn’t Dracula or Eggo that steps foot in the house is subject to be shot.

They both know he doesn’t entirely mean it, but she gets the message. No more baby forest animals. Their home is outside, so that’s where they should stay.

(Except the rabbits. She keeps trying with the damn rabbits. There’s already six in the forest named Hopper.)

 

* * *

 

“Was I a stray?"

Hopper looks over his bowl of chicken noodle soup, baffled. “Huh?”

“Was I a stray?” she repeats. “I was homeless with nobody and you took me in. You adopted me. Like a stray."

"Well, sure, but I wouldn't call you a stray--"

"You even gave me a nametag,” she explains, tugging on the necklace he gave her so many weeks ago. "Like Eggo's and Dracula's."

He _chokes._  He regrets saying sorta in the car so long ago. It's all coming back to bite him in the ass. “It’s not a nametag, it’s a _necklace.”_

“With my _name_ on it.”

He groans, embarrassed by the whole analogy. He has never considered Jane some stray and never will. “What’s your point, honey?”

Finally, she smiles, eyes down at her bowl of soup. “Thanks for taking me in, Dad.”

 

* * *

 

“Dad.”

“What.”

“What about a _fox_?”

“No. No fox. Kapish?”

“Kapish. Dad?”

“What.”

“Don’t go in my room.”

_“Jane.”_

**Author's Note:**

> y'all fuckin' know she'd have a collection of ugly-ass pets she adopted bc they were next in line at the kill shelter. y'all fuckin' know it.


End file.
